Rod charging machine



Nov. 5, 1946.

J. w. GARRow ROD CHARGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 21, 19.44

5 Shets-Sheet 1 f mmvrozz. JOHN W. GHRROW ATTORNEY Nov. 5, 1946. ,1. w. ARRow Rob CHARGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 21, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENTOR.

JOHN "(GA/7R0 W ATTORA/ EY No v. 5,1946. J.'W.GARROW 2,410,492

ROD CHARGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 21, 1944 5 Sheets-Sheet s mum/10x JQHN-WGARROW ATTOR} 5v Nov. 5, 1946. J. W -'GARRQW 2,410,492

ROD'CHARGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 21} 1944 s Sheets- Sheet 4 s L bv Qn. m

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J. w. GARROW.

ROD CHARGING MACHINE Filed Sept. 21. 1944 5 Sheets-sheaf 5 JOHN W. GA 880 w BY ATTORNEY Patented Nov. 1946 ROD CHARGING John Willis Garrow, Copper Cliff, Ontario,

Canada, assignor to The International Nickel Company, Inc., New York, N. Y., a corporation 7 of Delaware Application September 21, 1944, Serial No. 555,126

' In. Canada August 3, 1944 3 Claims. 1

The present inventionrelates to devices .ior charging grinding mills with grinding medium, and, more particularly, to a device for charging rods to rod mills of the Marcy type.

As those skilled in the art know, the comminution of ores is carried out in mills such as haml lnel' mills, ball mills and rod mills. The present invention relates particularly to.

comminuting devices of the rod mill type. Such mills consist briefly of a hollow cylindrical body disposed horizontally and provided withmeans for rotating the cylindrical body on its horizontal axis, and a grinding charge which consists of rods of suitable material, usually of steel. The mills vary in length and diameter and, in many instances, are from 15, 18 to feet in length.

The grinding medium is charged into the mill in the form of rods of such length as to rest on the inner periphery of. the horizontal cylinder which is the rod mill body. These rods when charged are slightly shorter in length than the interior length of the rod mill and are usually 2.5% 3

inches in diameter..

As might be expected, and as is well known, in grinding the ore the rods are reduced in diameter and at intervals additional rods must be charged into the mill in order .to keep the weight of the grinding medium at a predetermined optimum. Heretofore, the charging of these grinding rods into the rod'mill has been accomplished generally, and in fact usually, by hand. This involves heavy manual work since each rod weighs! about 250 pounds and is about 15 feet long. In many orperations it is customary to charge rods of such dimensions and weight into each of a series of mills at regular intervals. It has been found that when a charge of 25 rods is introduced manually into a rod mill, a; crew of, nine men is required who take five minutes to manually charge a normal load of 25 rods and thereafterrequire a rest period of 3 minutes In other words, the manual charging cycle consists of a total 01 8 minutes, or a total of 72 man minutes.

By means of the present device it is possible to charge the same weight of grinding medium, i. e. 25 rods of about 250 pounds each, with a crew of three men in about 4.2 minutes, a total of 12.6 man minutes. Thus, the present device has several advantages, among which are the following:

1. A reduction in labor of about 80%. 2. An increase in labor efliciency due to the elimination of extremely heavy manual work.

3. Improved safety practice since frequent 2 7 minor accidents result from'manual the heavy rods. 1

'It is an object of the present invention to pro- 'vide a motorized device for charging grinding 5 medium to rod mills.

. It is another object of the present invention to provide a device having a runwayalong which individual rods are conveyed with sufdcient velocity to be discharged into the mill.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a means whereby the longitudinal or endwise path of travel of the rod is controlled and maintained in substantially the same plane.

as during its travel on the runway-conveyor during discharge into the mill until the rod has completely entered the mill.

Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description taken in conjunction with the drawings in which-:-

20 Figure 1 illustrates a side elevation er a device embodying the principles of the present invenhandling of tion: 4 Figs. 2 and 3 are vertical sections taken at finest-2 and 3-3, respectively, of Figure 1;

Fig. 4 depicts a section taken on line si -d of Fig. 8 showing certain parts in detail;

Fig. 5 is a more detailed View of the rod selecting means and operating control in the preferred form;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the rod feeding device of my invention; and- Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic side elevation of the rod feeding device of my invention and of the rod mill showing their relative positional dispos'ition.

Generally stated, the machine embodying the principles of the present invention provides means for moving single rods longitudinally along a runway with sumcient velocity to be charged into a. rod mill. The machine preferably consists of a rack to hold'the rods, a horizontal rod runway'and conveyor, a rod selector, and a drive and power assembly for a v-belt conveyor. The whole combination is built as apertable unit supported by a steel frame mounted on swivel casters. The horizontal runway contains a plurality of grooved rollers in a single line which carry a V-belt over which the rods move to the mill. The V-belt also serves as the driv- 50 ing means from a motor pulley. The are of contact of the belt with the pulleymay be and generally is increased by the use of a snub-pulley.

Tension is maintained on'the driving belt by this snub pulley and by means of pivoting the qt haselalthough other means known to those skilled in theart maybe employed. when tension is maintained we e driving belt by pivotmg the motor, it is desirable to provide a support upon which the motor may rest in the event that the driving belt breaks. The framework carrying the belt-driven pulleys extends beyond the main supporting framework of the machine and this extending framework is preferably a continuation, in the direction of endwise travel of the rods, of the pulley-carrying framework. It is thus in substantially the same plane as the runway conveyor and, being co-extensive with the pulley-carrying framework, requires no vertical supports. It may thus be adapted to actually project through the charging port of the rod mill. This extending framework carries one or more rotatably-mounted pulleys which may be grooved similarly to the belt-driven pulleys or they may have a plane smooth face. This rotatablymounted pulley or pulleys forms an extension of the runway conveyor and rotation is imparted by the end-wise progress of the conveyed rod. A similar rotatable pulley is mounted on a bracket' vertically above the plane of the runway conveyor and so disposed that the most outwardly disposed of the rotatably mounted pulleys in the extending framework acts in fulcrum arrangement with the bracketed pulley on the progressing rod when the rod has practically completed I of the drawings.

The rods are placed on a rod rack in any suitthe mill end of the device. Pulley 4 ensures that the longitudinal or endwise path of travel of the rod is controlled and maintained in substantially the same plane as during its travel on the runway-conveyor while being charged into the mill so that the rods do not tend to pile up in the mill like so many Jack straws. Journaled in beams 5 are shafts 6 upon which belt driven grooved-pulleys I and 8 are mounted. Grooved pulleys 8 and I are driven by V-belt II which passes over motor pulley ID of the motor 9, to and over pulley 8,thence to and over pulley I, around snub pulley and completing ,itscircuit around pulley ID. The grooved pulleys I and'8 have their grooved surfaces in two planes as shown more clearly in Fig. 2 and Fig. 5, and form a lower groove. for the V-belt in which the angle of the sides is determined by the particular V- belt used in the manner well known in the art. Co-extensive with this lower groove. an upper groove is formed having its angular sides at the same or a different, angle to the angle of the lower groove sides. The upper surface of the V- belt Ii, when in place, forms the base of this able manner as, for example, by means of a crane. vThe rack preferably is. slightly higher than the runway-conveyor and preferably inclined towards it. Suitable means fixed rigidly also provided to raise the mill and of the frame offthe swivel casters and hold the unit stationary during charging operations.

The foregoing description describes in a general way a, machine embodying the principles of the present invention. For the purpose of giving those skilled in the art a better understanding of the invention, a more detailed description of a specific embodiment of the invention will now be given in connection with the drawings.

The machine comprises a steel frame I constructedof suitable material which possesses sufficient strength together with lightness. Thus, for example, the frame may be constructed of angle iron, steel, and the like of suitable thickness and width to support the maximum load to be imposed upon it and to withstand the stresses to which it is subjected; In order to provide a mobile device, the frame is mounted on a suitable number of swivel casters 2. At a suitable vertical height a pair of horizontally disposed beams I are provided which serve as supports for grooved pulleys I and 8 and pulley 8, which maybegrooved or smooth faced, at the mill-end of the machine. Grooved pulleys I and l are driven by a V-belt II, as is more fully de-' scribed hereinafter. When the distance between the mill end of the conveyor and pulley 8 is great,

one or more additional pulley or pulleys 2I, rotatably mounted and driven only by passage of 40 At suitable places along the upper edge of the upper groove and this upper surface 'of the V- e o p ng with the angular sides of the upper groove, forms the horizontal rod runway and conveyor l2. It is an important feature of the present invention that the rods shall be adequately supported while on this runway and in its preferred form it shall be such that the rod will be in substantially tangential contact with the angular sides of, the upper groove while resting on and supported by the outer surface of the V-belt. The angle of inclination of the sides of V the upper groove will thus be determined by the need for obtaining this three-ppint contact between the rod being carried and the rod runway and conveyor I2.

beams 5, rod stops I l'areprovided to prevent discharge of the rods over the side of the mawill roll on to the V-belt.. It is quite essential that a V-belt of this type be used in order that an instantaneous velocity shall be applied to the rods the instant they roll on to the' belt conveyor on operating shaft I6, is provided. The star 7 to the charging machine.

star wheel, aswell as its positional disposition in the rod thereover, may be installed between pulleys 3 and 8 as shown in Fig. 'I. A depressing pulley I is provided at a suitable distance from wheels 15 are rigidly mounted on the opposite ends of shaft l6 and are controlled by a manually operated lever II at the mill end of the rack which turns shaft It by engaging a ratchet [8 fixed on the shaft and thereby controls the movement of the rods to the runway I2. A brake lever I9, at the same location as lever l1, and also manually operated. checks the rotation of the star wheels I5 allowing one rod at a time to be fed The details of this relation to the runway conveyor and the rod rack, are shown in Fig. 5. It will be clearly seen in this view that one of the rods is engaged in one of the selector notches 28 of the star wheel i5 and that a selector notch 30 on approximately the opposite side of the star wheel is engaged by the semicircular dogon brake lever Hi. It will also be apparent that counter-clockwise rotation of the star wheel through approximately 72 will remove the selected rod vertically outof the path of gravitational flow and will discharge it,

engaged by the dog on brake lever 19. It will be apparent that the star wheel, in addition to functioning as a. rod selector means, also serves to positively arrest the gravitational flow of the rods on the rod rack it while one of said rods is in selected position and to interrupt that flow during the rotative discharging step. In the view of the star wheel shown in Fig. -2, the rotation of the star wheel has been interrupted at the point of highest vertical movement of the selected rod.

It will be seen in this view that a continuation of the rotation of the star wheel in a clockwise 'direction will discharge the selected rod onto the runway-conveyor i2 and that a new rod will be selected from the rod rack M. While the preferred embodiment of the present invention contemplates the removal of the selected rod from the selective position and the discharging of it onto the run-way conveyor in one, uninterrupted rotational step, it is apparentfrom the view shown in Fig. 2 that the insertion of an intermediate step between the step of selecting and discharging would not constitute a departure from the die 201connected to a shaft 2! by links 22 operates cams 23 and jack legs 24 to raise the mill end of the frame on the swivel casters and hold the unit stationary during charging operations.

In charging a rod mill, the machine is moved into position and the jacks lowered by means of the jack handle 28. Rods to be charged are placed" ,movement of the rods and discharges the rod selected onto the runway conveyor. This will be apparent from the arrangement shown in Figs.

5. and 6 of the drawings. The rod is guided into the groove of the rollers by angle stops 83. The

that movement during the rotative rod discharging step. j

Fig. '7 shows a diagrammatic side elevation of the machine of the present invention in its relation to the rod mill being charged with rods. In this view, one of the rods 3| has left the driven portion or the runway-conveyor l2 and is supported in approximately the same plane of travel by the rotatably mounted pulleys 3 and 4 carried principles of the present invention. A jack hanby the extending framework. It will be apparent from this view and from the view shown in Figure 1 that this extending framework comprises an extension of the horizontally disposed, beams 5. As has been stated earlier, however, this framework is not necessarily horizontal, but may be inclined towards the rod mill -26. The pulley 4 is in the same vertical plane as pulley 3 and, as in the view shown in Fig. '7, prevents the rod from toppling endwise into the rod mill, the pulley 3 serving in fulcrum arrangement against the overhanging weight of the rod, Pulley 21 is shown supported on the extending framework and disposed between pulley 3 and driven pulley 8. This pulley 21, with pulley 3, serves as a continuation of the runway-conveyor. When the size or weight of the rod being handled, or when the extending framework is of considerable length, additional rotatably mounted pulleys may be installed in this ccntiniation of the runwayconveyor. The rod'mill as shown in this view has been partly broken away in order to show the rod in the position described.

Although the present' invention has been described in conjunction with a specific embodiment thereof, those skilled in the art will understand that variations and modifications thereof may bemade. Such variations and modifications are to be considered within the purview of the specification and the scope of the appended claims. i i

I claim:

1. In a machine for feeding cylindrical rods of substantial length longitudinally into a machine of the rod mill type, the combination of a roller rack having a rod-supporting means of sufficient lateral inclination to impart lateral rolling movement to a plurality of rods supported thereon, a

- runway-conveyor disposed transversely of said V-belt H with grooved pulleys I and 8 acts as a runway-conveyor and the rod is conveyed along the runway with sufiicientvelocity to be discharged into the mill. The driving speed of the J-belt or other carrying medium may be varied to deliver rods into the mill door opening at any desired speed. The runway i2 comprising pulleys i and 8 and belt surfac H is not necessarily horizontal, but may be inclined so that the rods can-be discharged at locations higher or lower than the feed position of the rods into the grooved rollers.

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the machine showing the relative position of the plurality of rods on the rod rack, one ofthe rods that has been selected out of the path of lateral gravitational movement of the plurality of rods and one of the rods in its initial position on the runway-conveyor.' It will be noted from the view shown in this figure of the drawings and fromthe foregoing description of Fig. 5 and Fig. 2 that the star wheel selecting means i5 serves to positively arrest the lateral movement of the rods on the rod rack while one of said rods is in selected position and to interrupt rod-supporting means beyond and slightly below the lower extremity of inclination of said rodsupporting means, vertical stop means beyond but closely adjacent said runway-conveyor whereby lateral movement of said rods beyond said conveyor is prevented, and rod-transfer means projecting upwardly into the path of said rolling movement intermediate said supporting means and said runway-conveyor whereby said rolling movement is normally arrested, said rod-transfer means comprising a shaft rotatably mounted parallel to said rods, a plurality of substantially circular members rigidly mounted at substantially opposite ends of said shaft and within said path, said members having a plurality of notched indentatlons at spaced intervals in the peripheries thereof whereby the lowermost rod on said rodsupporting means is engaged in an aligned pair of said indentations and on rotation of said shaft in the direction of said path is removed upwardly out of said path and is discharged onto said runway-conveyor, said runway-conveyor consisting of a supporting framework extending across said path transversely of said rod-supporting, means and therebeyond on one side thereof to-- ward said mill, a pair of pulleys and. at least a third pulley carried by said framework and 7 adapted for in-line rotation, said pair of pulleys being disposed at approximately the opposite sides of said rod-supporting means, a V-belt driving said pair of pulleys and presenting a conveyor surface moving endwise to said lateral movement and towards said mill at a substantially greater rate of linear movement than the rate of lateral movement whereby, through a high degree of frictional engagement, immediate and positive longitudinal movement is imparted to said discharged rod, means adapted for locking engagement'with at least one of the notched indentations in said circular members between successive discharging steps, means cooperating with said third pulley for guiding said discharged rod throughout the latter part of said longitudinal movement and means for retaining said rack at rest during said steps. i

2. In a machine for projecting cylindrical rods of substantial length longitudinally through a charging port into a machine of the rod mill type, the combination of a rack having a rod-supporting means of sufficient lateral inclination to impart lateral rolling movement to a plurality of rods supported thereon, rod-transfer means disposed transversely of said rod-supporting means at the lower extremity of inclination thereof, said rod-transfer means consisting of a rotatably mounted shaft parallel to said rods, at least a pair of substantially circular members rigidly secured in spaced-apart relationship to said shaft and projecting upwardly into the path of lateral movement of said rods whereby said movement is normally arrested, a plurality of aligned rodengaging means peripherally disposed in said circular members wherein the lowermost of said rods is positively engaged with said arresting of move ment, means for rotating said shaft whereby said engaged rod is moved upwardly out of said path and the succeeding rod is engaged in successive rod-engaging means, a runway-conveyor disposed transversely of said rod-supporting means onto whichsaid first engaged rod is discharged on further rotation of said shaft, vertical stop means adjacent said runway-conveyor on the side opposite to that of said rod-transfer means whereby further lateral movement of said discharged rod is positively arrested, and means adapted for locking engagement with said rodsaid rack and tothe charging port of said mill, a

pair of grooved pulleys carried by said framework and adapted for rotation directionally lengthwise thereof, a V-belt driving said pair of pulleys and presenting a conveyor surface moving at a. substantial rate of linear movement toward said mill whereby said discharged rod is projected along said runway-conveyor, a third grooved pulley rotatably carried on said framework adapted to carry said projected rod during the latter stages of said projection, and a rotatable member above said third pulley cooperating therewith to maintain said projected rod in substantially the plane of original projection during said latter stages.

3. In a machine for projecting cylindrical rods of substantial length longitudinally through a charging port into a machine of the rod mill type, the combination of a rack having a rod-supporting means of sufiicient lateral inclination to impart lateral rolling movement to a plurality of rods supported thereon, a runway-conveyor disposed transversely of said rod-supporting means at the lower extremity of inclination thereof, said runway-conveyor consisting of a suporting framework integral with said rack and extending laterally therebeyond to said port, a pair of grooved pulleys rotatively supported on said framework and adapted for rotation directionally lengthwise thereof, a V-belt driving said pair of pulleys and presenting a conveyor surface moving at a substantial rate of linear movement toward said mill, rotative rod-transfer means intermediate said rod-supporting means and said runwayconveyor adapted to remove said rods individually from said rod-supporting means and to rotatively transfer said removed rods to said conveyor surface whereby projectional lengthwise movement is imparted to said transferred rods, vertical stop means adjacent said runway-conveyor adapted to positively prevent lateral movement of said transferred rods beyond said runway-conveyor subsequent to said transfer, and means adapted for locking engagement with saidrotativertransfer means between successive rotative transfer steps.

- J OHN WILLIS GARROW. 

